That message is a blessing. Would you turn to Genesis chapter
7. Genesis the 7th chapter. Verse 1. And the Lord said unto Noah,
Come thou and all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen
righteous before me in this generation. The Lord sees real well. He sees things as they are. You and I don't. We see people's
appearance. We don't know what's going on
inside. We can't even really see very clearly about ourselves.
But the Lord seeth not as man seeth. Man looketh on the outward
appearance. But the Lord looketh on the heart. And when the Lord saw Noah, he
saw him as he was. Righteous. He didn't look at him and say,
well, I'm going to view him as being righteous, even though
I know he's not. No. He looked upon Noah and he said,
Thee have I seen as righteous before me in this generation. I've entitled this message, How
Can a Sinner Be Righteous? Now, the first time the word
righteous is used in scripture is right here in Genesis chapter
seven, verse one. But would you turn over to Genesis
chapter 9 for a moment? Verse 20. And Noah began to be an husbandman,
and he planted a vineyard, and he drank of the wine, and was
drunken, was intoxicated, and was uncovered with it as tent. Now this is
the same one that God said, thee have I seen as righteous before
me. How can that be? That is the most important question
you and I can ever consider. How can that be? How Can a sinner be righteous? Before we seek to answer that
question from the scriptures, it's important for us to have
some understanding of the terms. First, what does the Bible mean
by the word sinner? What is sin? The Bible gives
us a lot of definitions. One of my favorites is the plowing
of the wicked is sin. If a wicked man does it, it's
sin, because he did it. Plowing seems to be wholesome,
doesn't it? But if a wicked man does it, it's sin. But the verse
I would like for us to consider is in 1 John 3, verse 4. You
don't have to turn there. I'll quote it to you. It says,
I forgot. The transgression of the law
is sin. The transgression of God's holy
law. Let's talk about the Ten Commandments.
The transgression of the law is sin. Any lack of perfect conformity
to God's holy law is sin. What is the sinner? He's the
one who does the sinning. He's the one who breaks God's
law. Now remember, when someone commits a crime, we don't put
the crime in jail, do we? We put the one who committed
the crime into jail. The sinner is the one who has
done the sin. He's committed the sin. Now, according to the scriptures,
I want you to listen to this real carefully. A sinner is somebody
who all he does is break God's holy law. That's it. That's the only way he can be
described. He has not kept one commandment
one time. That's a sinner. What about you? A sinner, all he does is sin. He cannot not sin. He doesn't
have the ability to look down his nose at anybody. And he has
no claims on God. If God sent him to hell, just
and holy is his name. That's what a sinner is. All
he's done is sin. He's not kept one commandment
one time. Even when he told the truth,
he was telling a lie. He wasn't telling it as he should.
He was trying to put a different slant on it in order to make
himself look better. That's what a sinner is. Now,
what is meant by righteous? Remember the question, how can
a sinner be righteous? What is meant by the term righteous?
Righteousness is a perfect standing before God's holy law. If you're
righteous, that means you've never sinned. If you're righteous,
that means you've never sinned in thought. You've never sinned
in word. You've never sinned in deed.
God's holy law looks you over completely and says, I find no
fault. No guilt. Perfect. Now, how? How can a sinner, someone
who all they've ever done is sin, how can he be righteous
before God? Only the Bible answers that question. There was a man, we're not given
his name, but he was in the back of the temple. He wouldn't come
up front. He was beating upon his breast,
crying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner, the worst man to
ever live. That's all he could say. You
know what the Lord said about that man? He said, I say unto
you, he went down to his house, not merely forgiven. Justified. Without guilt. Righteous. There's the word. If you're justified, you're righteous. And do you know the Lord gave
no comment about what he meant by that. He just said he went
down to his house justified. Didn't tell us how, but he used
the rest of the Bible to tell us how. How a sinner can be justified. How a sinner can be righteous
before God. Now when God said to Noah, thee
have I seen as righteous before me, he did not say, Noah, I know
you're sinful, but I'm going to treat you like you're not.
I'm going to view you as righteous even though I know
deep down you're guilty. That wouldn't be just, would
it? That wouldn't be righteous. There's no righteousness there.
Indeed, have I seen as righteous before me. Now listen real carefully. There are only two kinds of people
in this world, the righteous and the wicked. Everybody in
this room is in one of those two groups, the righteous and
the wicked. And let me tell you something
that I find to be amazing, and I know it's true. All of the
wicked, without exception, believe themselves to be righteous. And all of the righteous, without
exception, believe themselves to be wicked. Isn't that amazing? It's the truth. You say, well,
I know some people who don't believe themselves to be righteous.
Yeah, but they think they have the potential to be. I may not
be right now, but if the circumstances are right, if I do this, if I...
I can change that. No, you can't. No, you can't. How can Noah, how can Abel, how
can that publican, how can you, how can I be righteous before
God? Really righteous. And I've got
five points to this message. The first point is righteous
by union. Would you turn with me to Hebrews
chapter two? Verse 11, For both he that sanctifyeth,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who sanctifies, and they who
are sanctified, those who are the recipients of this great
grace, are all of one. They're the same. One, not two real close together,
but one. Not two glued together, but one. For the which cause? He, the Lord Jesus Christ, looks
at every one of his people. He looks at me, and he's not
ashamed of me. He's not ashamed to call me his
brother. Because I'm one with him. Now, turn with me to Matthew
chapter 3. I think this verse of Scripture,
as much as any other, lets us know just what is meant by union
with the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew chapter three, verse
13, Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized
of him. Now put yourself into John's
place. What if the Lord Jesus Christ came to you and said,
I want you to baptize me? How would you respond to that? Something's wrong here. I have
need to be baptized to thee, and comest thou to me? This doesn't
seem right. Verse 15, And Jesus answering
said unto him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh
me to fulfill all righteousness. Did I read that right? Thus it becometh us." When He fulfilled all righteousness,
all the us did too. Everything He did, He did as
an us. And when He fulfilled God's holy
law, so did I. Hebrews chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7. Now remember,
the Bible is inspired. It's written exactly as God would
have it. Now listen to the language, verse
9. The writer to the Hebrews says, and as I may so say, Levi
also, who received tithes, now remember who Levi is, he's the
great grandson of Abraham. He had not yet been born. He
had not yet been born. And as I may so say, Levi also,
who received tithes, paid tithes. He hadn't been born yet, but
he paid tithes, didn't he? Why could he do it? He did it. He did it. When his grandfather,
Abraham, paid those tithes, He did too. That's what the Bible
says. That's the language the scripture
uses. When Christ kept God's holy law, every one of his people
did. And this is how a sinner can
be righteous, righteous by union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Another
scripture that comes to my mind is Romans 5, 12. As by one man,
sin entered the world and death by sin So that death passed upon
all men, in that all have sinned. Now notice he doesn't say simply
that Adam's sin was charged to them, but he says when he sinned,
they sinned. They sinned when he sinned. Because
they're united to him. They're in him. When Christ kept
the law, every believer kept the law. Righteous by union. Turn to Romans 4. How can a sinner be righteous
before God? Romans chapter 4, verse 6, even as David also describeth
the blessedness, oh, the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth
Righteousness without works. Say, blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord will not impute sin. Now, every time we use the
term imputed righteousness, we're wrong. There's no such thing
as imputed righteousness. There's only righteousness imputed. It's not like there's this type
of righteousness and there's that type of righteousness. David
said in Psalm 71, 16, I've made mention of thy righteousness,
even thine only. Now, why did he only mention
his righteousness? Because that's the only righteousness
there is. That's why. It's not like there's imputed
righteousness and imparted righteousness. There's righteousness imputed.
There's righteousness imparted. But you don't use an adjective
to describe righteousness. It's God's righteousness. Now,
who is that man who's blessed? That man to whom God imputes
righteousness without their works. Now, here's the fact of the matter. I am right now, in and of myself,
a very sinful man. Would that be you? A very sinful man. And I really believe that if
you saw what was in me, you wouldn't hear me preach. You'd say, I'm
not going to listen to him anymore. And if I saw what you'd really
like, I'd say, I'm not gonna hang out with that person. Stay
away. Stay away. That's how hypocritical
we are. But the fact of the matter is,
I am a very sinful man. But here's my hope. That God
does not charge me for my sin. That he took my sin and he's
the only one who has the authority to do this. I couldn't do it.
He took my sin and lifted it off of me and placed it upon
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. My sin became His sin. So that He became guilty, it
became His sin. He was made sin. God took my
sin. He lifted it off of me and placed
it upon His Son. And Christ Jesus the Lord became
guilty. guilty, guilty of my sin. And he died the way I would have
died if I didn't have a Savior. He died forsaken of God. He died
in darkness. He died under the awful wrath
of God. He experienced everything about
sin with the exception of the commission of it. What all does that mean? I don't
know. But he did. He experienced the guilt, the
shame, the darkness, the horror, because my sin became his sin. He took my sins and my sorrows
and made them his very own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and suffered and died alone. And just as truly, as God lifted
my sin off me, and placed it upon him. God takes the righteousness
and the merit of his dear son and imputes it to me so that
it's mine. It's mine. Isaiah 54, 17 says
their righteousness is of me. Their personal righteousness.
I've got a personal righteousness. I surely do. It's the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's my personal righteousness.
I love that passage of scripture in Revelation 9, 18, under her
was, Revelation 19, 8, under her was granted that she should
be raided, fine linen, clean and white. And this is the righteousness
of the saints. I've heard people say, that's
the righteous deeds of the saints. Oh, man, are you that crazy? Do you believe any of your deeds
look like This is the righteousness and merits of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the righteousness of the saints. Yes, a sinner can
be righteous. Righteous by imputation. Look in Romans 5, you're there
in Romans verse 17. For if by one man's offense,
Death reigned by one. Much more, they which receive
abundance of grace and of the, what's that word? Gift. Gift. The gift of righteousness. Righteousness is a gift. It's the free gift of God given
to all of His elect. all for whom Christ died, it
is a gift. And everybody that God gives
this gift to, you know what they do? They receive it. They receive it. If you don't
receive it, God never gave it. But if you receive it, this is
my righteousness before God. I'm scared to death to look any
other way but this. The only righteousness I have
is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. That's
it. You know, I think of people talking
about higher rewards in heaven, like you can add something to
His righteousness and get a higher... That's so offensive. What could
you do to make His righteousness better? That's blasphemous. His righteousness is the only
righteousness, the righteousness that is the gift of God. And I can know whether or not
he's given to me by have I received this gift. Turn with me to 1 John chapter
2. 1 John chapter 3, I'm sorry. 1 John chapter 3. Verse 7, little children, let
no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as he is righteous. The fourth point, righteous by
nature. Righteous by nature. Righteous by union, righteous
by imputation, righteous by gift, and righteous by nature. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as he is righteous. Now, how can that be understood
in light of Romans chapter 3, verse 10, that we heard last
night? There is none righteous. No, not one. There's none that
understands. There's none that seeketh after
God. They've all gone out of the way. They've together become
unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. What's this about he that doeth
righteousness is righteous? even as he is righteous. Well,
look in 1 John 2, verse 29. If you know that he is righteous,
do you know that? Do you know that he is righteous? Now, I know that. If you know
that he is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness
is born of him. is birth of Him. That which is
born of the Spirit is spirit. This is what could be called
the impartation of righteousness. Righteousness being imparted.
Now, somebody says, well, that word impartation is not in the
Bible. Is it a good term? I don't know.
I don't know what else to say about it. Trinity is not in the
Bible, but it's a pretty good term, isn't it? Pretty good,
I shouldn't say that, I'm sorry. It's a glorious term. The doctrine is taught. I don't
know what word to use, but the doctrine is taught. When God
saves somebody, they become a partaker of the divine nature. It's called
the new birth. Born of God, a holy nature, a
nature that does not sin. Righteousness does not sin. If it can sin, it ain't righteous.
Righteousness does not sin. He that is born of God sineth
not. He can't. He lacks the ability. God's seed remains in him. Now, Romans chapter 5, this kind of
helps me to understand this. Verse 18. Therefore, as by the offense
of one, talking about Adam's sin, judgment came upon all men
to condemnation. When Adam sinned, everybody that
was in him was condemned. That's what scripture teaches,
isn't it? His sin was charged to me. I was condemned. I did it. I did it. I can't just
say it was charged to me. No, I did it. When Adam did it,
I did it. And it was charged to me. Now
look in verse 19. For as by one man's disobedience, many were
made sinners. Now, not only did his sin become
mine, that act of transgression, but his fallen nature. Remember, he died when he sinned. And I was made a sinner so that
I was brought into this world with His nature, a sinful nature. But in the same manner, just
as His sin was charged to me and became mine, and His sinful
nature was passed on to me, original sin, that's why I was born a
sinner. In the same manner, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ is charged to me and becomes mine. And in the new birth, his
nature. And I don't understand this.
You know, I really don't understand it. I just believe it because
it's what the scripture teaches. You know, you believe the mysteries
of God. You can't much understand, but you believe it. His nature. Partakers of the divine nature.
He that's born of the spirit, his spirit is passed on to me. Now, because of that. Turn with
me, I want you to look at this. Second Peter. Lots. Brother Lot. Verse six. And turning the cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow,
making them an example unto all those actors that should live
ungodly and delivered just Lot. That's God's description of Lot. Just Lot. vexed with the filthy conversation
of the wicked, for that, what? Righteous man. Righteous man. Dwelling among them and seeing
and hearing, vexed his, what? Righteous soul. Righteous soul. From day to day, with their unlawful
deeds. Righteous by nature. Here's the last one. Turn back
to Romans 4. Verse 5. But to him that worketh not. I reckon about the hardest thing
in the world to do is to work not. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly. And there's the grace of God
right there. He justifies the ungodly. Aren't you thankful
for that? It says his faith is counted
for righteousness. His faith is counted for righteousness. Question, does that mean that
because we can't work out a purpose of a righteousness that God kind
of lowers the terms and accepts faith instead of righteousness?
His faith is counted as righteousness. That act of faith, that's righteousness. Now, you know better than that.
You know better than that. God's not lowering his terms.
Well, what's he mean when he says his faith is counted for
righteousness? Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. If you can see it,
you don't need faith. You know, somebody once said
an anchor that you can see isn't doing any good. The only anchor
that does any good is thrown off the boat down in you can't
see it. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. Now, let me tell you some things
I can't see. I cannot see my eternal union with the Lord Jesus
Christ. I can't see that I've always
been united to Him, that before the stars ever twinkled, before
the sun ever shined, I was in the Lord Jesus Christ, one with
Him, that He knew me before I was formed in the womb, that I had
personality before God, and He knew me and He loved me when
I had no existence. I can't see that. Can you? Of course you can. But what's
the evidence that it's so? Faith. I believe the gospel. I really
am relying on the Lord Jesus Christ as my righteousness before
God. I'm relying on my eternal union
with him, that what he did, he did. That's what I'm relying
on. Do you know that's the evidence that it's so? That's the evidence
that I've been eternally united to Christ. I didn't see him imputing the
righteousness of his son to me. He didn't give me some kind of
document saying it's so. So how do I know he really did
it? How do I know? I remember one time hearing a
preacher preach, or no, he's one of these preachers who, he
got caught up in some kind of scandal. And they were interviewing
him about this scandal. And he said, Hey, I've taken
those sins and I put them under the blood. Oh, You can do that? You have the authority to do
anything like that. Only God can do that. Amen. Now, what
is the evidence that he's done this for me? That he's imputed
the righteousness of his son to me, and that he took my sin
and placed it upon Christ, and this was a transaction I had
nothing to do with. I had no hand in this. How can
I know what was done for me? Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. Do you believe? I'm not asking
you if you believe that Christ died for your sins. I'm not asking
you that. But I'm asking you this. Do you
believe he's the son of God? Do you believe that if he died
for you, you must be saved? Are you relying only upon Him
as everything in your salvation? I don't mean 99%. I mean, faith
is the evidence of things not seen. Well, how can I know He's
given me this gift of righteousness? I can't see it. How do I know
He's given it to me? Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. If He's given you this righteousness,
I know you've received it. Now, how in the world, how in
the world can I really believe that I have a righteous, holy
nature? I look within my heart, and I don't even want to describe
what I see. A holy nature? Can I look within myself and
say, yep, got it down, buddy. I've got this holy, no, no, no,
no. How do I know I have a holy nature
that doesn't see? Faith. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. That's the only evidence. It's
the evidence of things not seen. And this is what the Bible calls The Lord, our
righteousness. Jeremiah 23, six, this is the
name where with he shall be called. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lord, our righteousness. And then in Jeremiah 33, 16,
says this is the name where with she shall be called. The Lord,
our righteousness, me and the Lord have the same name. Same
name. You know why? Because we're one.
Whatever his name is, my name is. Whatever he did, I did. The Lord, our Righteousness. This is that fine linen garment,
clean and white. This is that wrought gold that
makes the king's daughter all glorious within. This is the
best robe of the prodigal. Paul said in Romans 14, 17, the
kingdom of God. It's not meat and drink. It's righteousness. It's peace. The peace that I
feel, the peace God has with me, because His righteousness
is my righteousness. And joy in the Holy Ghost. That's how a sinner can be righteous. Amen.